Her Tutor
by Abnegation Ravenclaw
Summary: "I wanted to talk to you about your grades," Mr. McLean said seriously. "Specifically your math and history grades."/"I'll improve," Piper promised, wringing her hands nervously./"No, that's what you say every time, and your grades haven't improved." Her dad said. "So, I found you a tutor.": Piper wasn't supposed to fall for him, he was just her tutor. Jasper AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Soooo... New fanfic! I had this idea and I really wanted to do it so we'll see how it ends up and if I even finish it, haha. I'm thinking weekly updates?**

**obviously this is an AU, so the characters may be a little OOC. **

* * *

"So, did you think that history test was hard?" Annabeth asked nonchalantly, brushing a stray blond curl out of her eyes. Piper shrugged.

"It definitely was not easy," she answered carefully. "But you know, history really isn't my thing."

"Didn't you say that about biology _and_ math?" The first girl asked somewhat teasingly.

"I honestly don't really see the point in those subjects." Piper scoffed truthfully. "Or school in general."

"Seriously?" Annabeth said incredulously. "Don't you want to try for a good college and stuff?"

"We all know that you're gonna be valedictorian when the time comes," Piper told her friend. "Me, on the other hand, I'm perfectly fine with my grades as they are."

"You make a C minus average." The blonde goggled at her. "And don't you do any extra curricular activities or anything?"

"Ain't nobody got time for that!" Piper joked, but Annabeth didn't even smile. "Oh, come on, that one was great."

"Piper, you've really got to do something with your life. You can't just go ignoring your academic career forever."

"Says you," Piper scoffed. "I don't need to get my grades up or anything, I am completely fine."

* * *

"Piper, can I talk to you for a sec?" Her dad asked after dinner that night.

"Uh, sure?" She answered, fingering the mahogany braid draped onto her left shoulder. Piper turned around and took a seat back at the table, facing her dad. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?" She made her tone sweet, because her dad looked... Not angry, just... Sort of disappointed with her.

"I wanted to talk to you about your grades," Mr. McLean said seriously. "Specifically your math and history grades."

"I'll improve," Piper promised, wringing her hands nervously.

"No, that's what you say every time, and your grades haven't improved." Her dad said. "So, I found you a tutor."

"A tutor!" She almost yelled. "Dad, no!"

"I think it'll be good for you." He decided, completely ignoring her objections. "You're going to meet him in the library for an hour on Thursday after school."

"Thursday?" Piper asked, dismayed. "But I made plans with Hazel, we were going to-"

"Not my problem." Mr. McLean cut in, spreading his hands. "Make sure you're ready by then."

"This is so unfair," she huffed, fingering her dark braid once again. "How long will I have to meet with this tutor?"

"Until your grades are up to a at least a B plus." Her dad answered.

"And why couldn't we just have Annabeth tutor me?" Piper complained.

"Because I decided that it would be better to have this other tutor for you." Mr. McLean said, sounding slightly irritated. "And that is final."

* * *

"I have to get a tutor!" Piper complained. "A _stupid_ tutor!"

"I told you that you should improve your grades," Annabeth replied nonchalantly. "Any idea who it is?"

"Well, dad made sure that it wasn't you." Piper sighed. "Chances are that it'll be some unattractive nerd kid from your nerd kid group."

"My nerd kid group?" Annabeth laughed. "You mean my AP study group? That group has some really nice kids."

"Yeah, whatever." Piper tugged on one of the two braids that she had decided to put in her hair this morning. "Thanks for putting up with my super long rant about tutors."

"My pleasure," Annabeth said sarcastically. "Now, I should go. I promised Percy I'd come and watch his swim practice." Percy was, of course, Annabeth's boyfriend, who happened to be on the swim team. Piper didn't know him very well, but Annabeth really liked him, so she guessed that he was a nice kid and all. She watched as her friend made her way off, her blonde ponytail swishing back and forth as she jogged towards the building.

* * *

Thursday afternoon rolled around faster than Piper would've liked. She'd been dreading the meeting with her tutor ever since she had been told about it on Monday evening. Piper entered the library slowly, attempting to stall. That is, until a blonde boy waved her over from one of the tables. Sighing inwardly, she walked over to the boy.

"Hi, I'm Jason." He greeted cheerfully. Piper still stood awkwardly next to the table he had already taken a seat at. "You must be Piper, right?"

"Uh, yeah, that's me." She shifted her weights rom one foot to another. The boy- Jason grabbed his backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out a really thick binder. Seriously, it looked like it weighed at least fifty pounds, but he lifted it easily. Jason had shortish, kind of shaggy blonde hair, startling blue eyes, and a tall, athletic build. Aside from glasses with thin, kind of gold frames, he did not meet Piper's expectations of the "nerd boy tutor". In fact, she was starting to wonder if this boy actually was her tutor.

"Well, take a seat." Jason gestured to an empty chair right across from his, and Piper grudgingly sat down. "So, um, your dad said you needed help in history and math, right?"

"Mmhm," she twirled a strand of dark hair around in her fingers idly.

"Alright, so we've got a history test in two weeks." He smiled. "And I think-" the two made eye contact for a second. "-you can ace it." Piper scoffed.

"The best I can hope for is like, a C."

"That's why I'm here, isn't it?" Jason once again grabbed his backpack and unzipped it, this time producing a history textbook. "I know that some of the best information in here for the test is from pages 244 to 263. I was thinking we'll just read that, we'll answer a few questions, and then maybe we can go from there?"

"Sure," She sighed, taking out a pencil and a sheet of paper.

* * *

**Feedback? Constructive criticism?**

**Question of the chapter (inspired by my favorite person ever BeatriceMekarkHolmesEaton): which PJO/HOO character are you most like?**

**For me, I'd have to say Jason, maybe Annabeth. My friends all say Annabeth and Reyna, but I really see a lot of myself in Jason. Idk. **

**Review review review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I updated three days early because I was bored and you guys seemed to like this story, so... Oh, and I thought I'd put review replies in here too. :)**

**Guest, autumnstripeolympus, iluvbooks, nikitabella, and scallisonpercabethdestiel- thank you! Your support means a lot!**

**RussosRainbow- thanks for your sweet review. :) that is awesome with your friends being like the characters and all. **

**Dumdoooo- thank you so much! This review made me smile so big when I first read it!**

**percy Jackson is 4646- thanks. And I never said that Jason wasn't taller than Percy... **

**BeatriceMelarkHolmesEaton- yoooooooo**

**thedauntlessamity- thanks for continuously reviewing on everything. :)**

* * *

"So how did your tutoring session go?" Annabeth asked as she and Piper were walking outside of school on Friday afternoon.

"It completely sucked." Piper answered, rolling her eyes. "Jason wasn't terrible in general, though, I just wish I had you as a tutor."

"Oh, Jason's your tutor?" Annabeth exclaimed, sounding apparently delighted.

"Yeah, what was his last name...?" she trailed off, trying to recall her tutor's surname.

"Jason Grace?" Annabeth supplied. "I know him, we've studied together a few times. He's a bit too _goody two shoes_ for my taste though."

"He didn't look like a nerd," Piper noted. "He looked like more of a... you know, jock type."

"He plays baseball or something, doesn't he?"

"Really?"

"I don't really know." Annabeth sighed. "If you're so interested in this kid, why don't you just ask him yourself?"

"Hey, you're a reliable source of information!" Piper said defensively. Her thoughts drifted to her blonde jock/nerd tutor. Then she started picturing him playing basketball, which was ridiculous, because basketball hadn't even been mentioned... but, GOSH, he was kind of, well, hot. At least, in Piper's imagination he was. "Snap out of it!" she said, blushing when she realized that she'd said it out loud. Her friend gave her an inquisitive look.

"What were you thinking about, Pipes?" Annabeth said slyly. "Perhaps a certain blonde-"

"Oh, god, no!" Piper almost yelled. "Annabeth, that's kind of... I don't like Jason! Do you know how awkward it would be to be crushing on my tutor?"

"Come on, it's kind of cute." the blonde girl grinned. "You know, Jason could be good for you."

"Yeah, no chance. He's my tutor. That's all."

"Sure." Annabeth said, her tone vaguely sarcastic. "Whatever you say, Pipes."

* * *

"So," Piper's dad said over dinner that night. "I never got a chance to ask you yesterday."

"Ask me what?" she scowled and slowly rotated her spoon in the soup.

"How your tutoring went." he raised an eyebrow.

"It was awful." Piper took a bite of soup, and made a face when it burnt the roof of her mouth. She swallowed the burning liquid before speaking again. "honestly, dad, I don't see why I need a tutor. All we did was read out of the textbook. I could totally do all of that at home where I can eat goldfish and watch netflix while I'm reading that crap."

"That is why you need a tutor." Her dad pointed out. "And if you really want snacks that badly, just invite him over here to study with you. What was his name again?"

"Jason." Piper almost smiled at his name, but quickly covered it up by scowling again. "Jason Grace."

"Well, he seems nice enough." Me. McLean shrugged and took a bite of his roll. "When's your next test?"

"Two weeks." She answered with a somewhat bored expression.

"Perfect, that'll give you just enough time to study with your tutor." Piper groaned and got up from the table, grabbing her dishes and silverware to help clear the table. After depositing them in the sink, she went upstairs to her bedroom.

When she reached her room, she changed into pajama pants and a tank top, then took her hair out of the braid. Piper didn't know why, but she loved her hair in braids. She just didn't like the way they crimped her hair, so she always took them out at night. Somewhat odd, yeah, but it was her, well, system.

Piper grabbed her laptop off of her desk, curled up in her bed with all of the blankets and pillows and stuff, then turned on Netflix (because what else?). After three episodes, she got up to brush her teeth before hopping back in bed to watch one more episode before bed. At least, she told herself one more episode...

Then, Piper finally shut off the laptop and went to sleep. Her mind drifted, and she found herself thinking about Jason Grace, which was odd because they'd really only met once, and then she found herself thinking about school, which lead to a nightmare where Mr. D, the history teacher, was standing over her and yelling about a failing grade...

_BLEEEP BLEEEP BLEEEP BLEEEP_

Piper's eyes snapped open at the sound of the alarm clock. That was odd... Today was Saturday, wasn't it?

"What the crap?" She muttered to herself, blindly hitting the button on the digital clock to shut off the alarm. Piper then proceeded to grab her phone. It was, in fact, a Saturday. 6:45 AM on a freaking Saturday. "I'm such an idiot." Why in the freaking world would she leave the alarm on, ON A SATURDAY?

Piper realized that she really couldn't fall back asleep now, so she sat in her bed with her phone, checking her email and text messages. One thing was odd to her: there was one text. From Jason freaking Grace.

_Hey, it's Jason. Annabeth gave me your number, I hope that's okay. Anyway, are you busy today around 2:30ish? I just have a game Thursday afternoon, and maybe we could meet up to study and stuff then, so... Let me know when you're free._

And so Piper texted back.

_It should work out this afternoon... I was going to go to a friends house later but I'll make sure to leave in time to meet you. :) library again?_

She waited around two minutes before he replied, during which she got up and brushed her teeth, then heard the ding! of her phone. Piper ran over and picked it up.

_I think the school library is closed... How about meeting at that little coffee shop down the street from the school at 2:30?_

Piper could practically hear Jason's voice in her head as she read his text, and, totally against her will of course, smiled to herself.

_Sounds good. See ya then._

* * *

**I really like the next chapter okay. I don't really know what else to say, so maybe you could review and stuff? :)**

**question of the chapter: OTP?**

**for me it would be Jasper, Percabeth, Jily (HP), and Christina/Will (Divergent)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, because I'm impatient and I have seven chapters already written, I'm updating again. Maybe I should just scrap the idea of weekly updates and update whenever the heck I want.**

**Review replies:**

**Iluvboooks- thanks for the long review! To answer your questions... 1) yes. 2) Its in the chapter I wrote for him. 3) well, no. Piper is canonically very perceptive and good at reading emotions, so she'd notice the little things. Jason would be slower to pick up on the little details.**

**Uditiplease, nikitabella, tigercub98, primapirhana, jaspercabeth83- thank you so much for your kind reviews!**

**Beatricemelarkholmeseaton- no, you ship Jasper. J-a-s-p-e-r. Jiper is just Piper with a J in front of it. xD**

**thedauntlessamity- I ship Neville and Luna too! Thanks for still reviewing amd I really like your idea. :)**

* * *

"Since this test is mainly focusing on ancient history and mythology, I thought we'd start with some Roman mythology." Jason explained. Piper had met with him at the little coffee shop like they'd planned earlier that Saturday morning. She nodded and sipped her coffee as Jason scanned his textbook. "So, um, do you know the names of any roman gods?"

"Well, there's Zeus, right?" Piper asked. Jason pursed his lips. "What is it?" Ah, gosh darn it, she was smiling again for absolutely no reason.

"Zeus is actually Greek," he said after a pause. "Jupiter is the roman form of Zeus and vice versa."

"The gods had different forms?"

"Well, yes and no." Jason answered. "The Greeks came first, Romans took over, ya da ya da ya da..."

"That doesn't answer my question." Piper stated. He smiled and launched into a detailed explanation about the Greek and Roman gods. By the end of it, she was completely lost. She'd been too busy watching Jason, how he used hand gestures while he talked, how he was drinking hot chocolate instead of coffee, how he had a little scar on his lip- which Piper hadn't noticed until now- and how his glasses were crooked, like really crooked, on his nose. She wondered if he knew.

"...So, that's basically all I know. You ready to start going over your notes from class?" Jason finished saying. It took her a minute to process what he had just said, as she was watching him straighten his crooked glasses as he spoke.

"Oh, uh..." _crap crap crap crap crap, what did he just say? crap crap crap crap._

"I'm guessing that you're not the note taking type?" He said gently, his lips slightly curved into an amused smile.

"Not really, no." Piper finally was able to snap back to her senses.

"Okay, well, I think we should get you some notes. You can use them on this particular test, so if you have them, you know, that's going to help you out." She was able to focus on his words this time, and she nodded. "Anyway, I was thinking that we should practice note taking skills. Both of us."

"How are we gonna do that?" Piper asked as Jason ripped two sheets of paper out of his notebook and handed one over to her.

"Basically I'm just going to read a passage out of the textbook and you're going to take notes on it. Then we'll switch and you'll read and I'll take notes."

"Got it." She readied her pencil. And Jason began reading about some two-faced god guy in his textbook.

"Despite Rome's wholesale acquisition of the Greek pantheon, perhaps their most important deity was uniquely their own. Janus was the god of beginnings and endings, transitions, doors, basically anything that had two different but complementary functions - epitomized by the fact he had two faces. Janus was so important he remained a part of the Roman pantheon even after they had co-opted the Greek gods, and arguably stayed their most important deity, receiving the bulk of the worship for important beginnings and ending like births, marriages, days, seasons, deaths, etc." he read.

Piper noticed that Jason would pause after every sentence or so to breathe, then she realized that she hadn't been taking notes. Crap.

"Since he presides over beginnings, he had to be worshipped first in all major religious ceremonies; this also made him the god of omens, and the Romans loved omens and trying to divine the future. Even though Jupiter was the king of the gods after the great Greek pantheon acquisition, Janus was the door between heaven and earth, and had been since the beginning of time - which effectively meant Janus could have metaphorically locked Jupiter in his room. He didn't, of course, but he could have."

Hastily, she scribbled down what she remembered. Jason leaned over her shoulder, inspecting her notes. He pursed his lips, making an expression like, _It-wasn't-great-but-I-don't-know-how-to-tell-you_, and began gently correcting her. Piper liked how he did that, instead of just saying, _ITS WRONG, YOU SUCK_!, Jason showed her where she went wrong and how to make it better next time. She found herself with really good notes on Roman gods for the first time in forever.

By the time she had done the reading (shed read about Jupiter, which Jason had said was his favorite of the roman gods, not that it mattered), it was almost five.

"Oh, gosh." Piper said, glancing down at the time on her phone. "I've got to get home."

"I should probably go home too." Jason smiled at her as they both gathered up their stuff. "So, we can't meet again on Thursday, like I said, but you know, text me whenever you're free and we'll work something out."

"Okay," Piper picked up his history textbook and handed it over. Their hands touched for a brief second, during which Jason blushed (Piper probably did too). "Maybe we could try to meet at my house next time, or your house-" she broke off, because at the mention of them going over to his house, Jason froze. "You okay?"

"Umm, I don't think my house is really an option." He said quickly.

"Why no-" Piper started to ask, but Jason interrupted.

"Just... We can't really... Study there." He cut in. "Bye, Piper."

She was feeling baffled as Jason hoisted his backpack up onto his shoulder and walked out the door, where a girl with short, dark hair was waiting. Was she his sister? She was probably his sister.

_But why had Jason started acting all weird when Piper mentioned going over to his house?_

* * *

**I wanna try to get to 30 reviews by the time I update next (which I have no idea when it's gonna be but it should be soon). And now for the question of the chapter. **

**favorite PJO and HOO books?**

**for me it would be Battle of the Labrynth for PJO and Mark of Athena for HOO (though The Lost Hero is close behind and I really like Blood of Olympus). **

**Also if you have any questions about the story or any random questions, put them in your review and I'll answer them in the next Authors note. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello hello hello! I am here with the next update! That seems overly enthusiastic!**

**review replies:**

**Arnoldlover6- the next chapter is in Jason's POV. :)**

**thedauntlessamity- haha you need to go study (you know, with frequent fanfiction breaks xD). I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. **

**Jaspercabeth83- my favorite color is purple.**

**primapirahna- no, Jason doesn't already have a girlfriend, if his unromanticness so far in this story hasn't already clued you in. Because, canonically, he'd never dated anyone before Piper as he and Reyna were just friends.**

**iluvboooks- to answer your questions... 1) this one will be answered in the next chapter (Jason's POV). 2) that will be answered in this chapter. **

* * *

Throughout the week, Piper saw her tutor in the hallways at school periodically. They didn't have any classes together except for English, which was probably the only subject that she was actually good at and interested in. Coincidentally, it was the only class of Jason's that wasn't an AP class, according to Annabeth. She would never admit it, but she was kind of disappointed that Jason and her never really had any conversations. Sure, there were a few "hello"s here and there, polite kind of smiles and glances, but Piper and Jason weren't really talking. Not that she expected him to like, engage in deep conversations with her, but you know... Just, like, maybe he could at least ask her how her studying outside of tutoring was going (it was going good after meeting with him a few times and his careful constructive criticism).

Then, Friday morning, Piper was running late for her first period class, so she was speed walking through the halls, since running wasn't exactly allowed. When she noticed that no teachers were around of watching her, she broke into a run, not really paying much attention to her surroundings. That was proven to be a big mistake when she slammed into someone's chest, hard. Books and papers went flying.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry," Piper muttered hurriedly. Her eyes caught sight of a familiar history textbook. _Well, crap._

"It's okay." The boy that she'd run into replied, the familiar pursed-lips smile beginning to show.

"Oh, gosh, Jason, I'm sorry."

"You're not hurt or anything, are you?" Jason asked, getting to his feet, then holding out his hand to help Piper up. She took it, and a warm feeling spread through her arm.

"Nope. You?" She asked, trying not to let her embarrassment show.

"I'm great." He reached down and began picking up both of their books. Piper quickly knelt down to help; she could not let Jason pick up all of her books for her after she'd just slammed into him and possibly injured him. "Where are you headed?"

"Chemistry. And-" she sighed. "-I'm going to be late."

"Perfect. I was on my way to geometry, we could walk over there together." Jason said, a blush immediately creeping into his face. "I mean, if you want to. The rooms are right next to each other and all..."

"Umm, sure." Piper hoped she wasn't blushing as well. Why was Jason even blushing? Was it just a really awkward situation? Probably. "I don't want to make you late for class though."

"it's not even out of my way, Piper." He said insistently. And without another word, they both started walking towards their respective classrooms.

"Well," Piper said once they'd reached her classroom, which was closer. "See ya." They both gave an awkward little wave before Jason started blushing again and started hurrying off to his class. _What was that about?_

* * *

"Who is the Roman goddess of war?" Thursday afternoon, Jason was once again tutoring her in the library, and today they were quizzing each other on the Roman gods before moving on to the Greek gods and all of that jazz.

"Hold on, I know this..." Piper thought hard for a second. "Bell... Bellona!"

"Yes!" Jason exclaimed happily. "Alright, who is the goddess of love?"

"Aphrodite," she said immediately.

"Actually, Aphrodite is the Greek from of Venus, so you were sort of right." He smiled. "Now you give me a few."

"Umm, the sky dude."

"Ouranous?"

"Nope."

"Ohhhh, you meant Jupiter." Jason realized. "Sorry, I was thinking about the original Greek god of the sky, that Gaea tricked him into coming down on earth, away from his home territory, so then they killed him." Piper made a face.

"Sometimes Greek mythology is kind of... Disturbing." She said. "Also, why did we start with Roman mythology?"

"I don't really know, actually." Jason shrugged, glancing down at his notes. "I just think it's more interesting, plus the names are easier to pronounce, so that's pretty helpful."

"Eh, it's still hard unless you speak Latin or something." Piper joked, but Jason just nodded. "You actually speak Latin, don't you? Your reaction to that joke kind of gave it away."

"I study Latin," he replied, not taking his eyes off of Piper's notes, where he had begun making corrections. "But mostly, I'm interested in the whole Roman civilization. All the emperors and stuff."

"So you speak Latin and study roman emperors." She smiled. "Fun."

"I study Latin," Jason corrected.

"Still, there's not really a difference." Piper shrugged. "If you saw a Latin word on a page, you'd be able to read it, say it, understand it, all of that."

"I guess, but I don't walk around speaking in Latin, that'd be weird." Both chuckled at the thought. "Oh yeah, and your test is in less than a week. Are you feeling confident?"

"Well, more confident than I was," Piper answered truthfully. She was still nervous for the test, but with Jason helping her, she was feeling better about it now.

"Well, that's good." Jason smiled. "Well, it's already five, so let's start wrapping things up. I don't want to keep you too late."

* * *

As Piper was falling asleep, she thought of Jason again, which frustrated her. She tried to turn it around by thinking about what she'd just studied, but somehow her thoughts all returned to him. Then, one memory of him surfaced, leaving her annoyingly curious.

_"Maybe we could try to meet at my house next time, or your house-" she broke off, because at the mention of them going over to his house, Jason froze. "You okay?"_

_"Umm, I don't think my house is really an option." He said quickly._

_"Why no-" Piper started to ask, but Jason interrupted._

_"Just... We can't really... Study there." He cut in. "Bye, Piper."_

She didn't want to pry, but she suspected that something was up with him, or his family, even. Normally she was very observant and could tell some things about a person from the way they acted, but Jason... Well, she just couldn't figure out Jason Grace.

* * *

**Like I said, the next chapter is in Jason's POV and you'll get to know his background a little better. Also, friendly reminder that he _does_ have an older sister and I _will_ be including that. Any other questions you may have, just put in your review and I'll try to answer them. **

**Also, would you guys be interested in a Percabeth hospital AU? **

**If yes, can you give me ideas/inspiration for that?**

**also, any one-shots I should do?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I'm updating two days Ina row because I got like, no reviews on the last chapter (did I put it up at a bad time or so,etching?) and I was really excited to get this one up because it was in Jason's POV. Just a heads up, every fifth chapter is a Jason POV chapter. ****Hopefully At least some of your questions about him will be answered. **

**Review replies:**

**Iluvboooks- I seriously appreciate your reviews so much. You really made me smile. :)**

**thedauntlessamity- haha I do the same thing. I really hate studying too.**

**autumnstripeolympus- I was actually thinking about doing one like that but it wasn't working too well. Maybe I'll try again, aha..**

* * *

"Hey, Thalia," Jason called out as he entered the apartment. His older sister was sitting on the couch with headphones on, so she didn't react. "Thalia!" He tried again. This time, she removed the headphones and smirked at him.

"You're home late," Thalia noted. "Did something happen?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong or anything, I just started tutoring this girl." Jason answered, an image of Piper McLean immediately popping up in his mind.

"Who?"

"Uh, Piper." He answered. "Piper McLean, I think it was... She's in my English class, I think."

"Cool. What subjects are you helping her out with?" Thalia continued with the questions, like she always did.

"History, for now, and maybe math later." Jason answered dropping his backpack on the ground with a thud. "So, uh, where's mom?" Immediately, his sister's expression darkened.

"Kitchen. But, uh..." She paused for a second and the two siblings locked eyes for a second.

"She's drunk again, isn't she?" Jason asked quietly. Thalia nodded and looked down at her feet.

"Do you have homework?" Thalia seemed to be desperately trying to change the subject.

"No, I finished it all in study hall today. You?" He knew that she was going to the community college for a nursing degree or something.

"I have an essay, but it's not due for like, another two months. I'm good." His sister grinned as he gaped at her. Jason had never understood procrastinators. He wanted everything done in advance. The less stress that was put onto him, the better. And whether doing all of his weekend homework on Friday helped or not, Jason still never procrastinated. "Now sit down and tell me about your day."

Jason did. He spilled about the latest pranks the Stolls, two brothers on his baseball team, had pulled, he talked about his tutoring Piper, his study group, and the accidental meeting of Piper this morning before class and how they'd walked to class together...

"You keep mentioning Piper," Thalia pointed out. "The girl you're tutoring, right?"

He nodded, hoping that he wasn't blushing.

"_aww_, my baby brother has a crush!" She said in a sing-songy voice.

"Shut up, Thalia."

"But seriously," his older sister sobered up for a second. "Tell me about her."

"Well, she always braids her hair. She's kind of pretty, but in a careless way. And her eyes..." Jason didn't realize that he'd trailed off until Thalia spoke again.

"What about them?" She prodded.

"I don't know what color they are. I can't tell if it's green or brown or what."

"Plot twist, her eyes are brown and you're just really bad at colors."

"Shut up," Jason said again. "And, like, she's smart, I can tell. I just think that she doesn't really care about school or anything, and that's kind of sad."

Suddenly, a crash came from the kitchen.

"Alright, I'd better go check on mom." Thalia sighed, getting to her feet. "Jason, you should probably go to-"

"Thalia-" he was cut off by his sister.

"Just get out of here, alright?" Thalia hissed. "I don't want you to have to see-"

"Fine. Okay, I'm leaving." He grabbed his backpack again and walked out the front door. Jason knew that when their mother had one of her "episodes", as Thalia called them, his sister wanted him to scram. When he was younger, she'd have him go back to his bedroom and wait things out. Now that he was older, he left the house, but he still wished that Thalia would let him help her. It wasn't like he couldn't handle his own mother or something.

_Hey, are you doing anything?_

Jason texted the first person he thought of as he walked away from the apartment, who just happened to be Piper. To his relief, she texted back immediately.

_I'm currently marathoning Doctor Who on Netflix. Why, are you okay?_

He smiled as he read her text.

_I'm fine, I just_

Jason paused; what was he going to say? _Oh, yeah, my mother is just in the midst of an alcoholic rage and I'm in need of someone to keep me company?_ Yeah, no. Then he finished the text.

_I'm fine, I just was bored and nobody else could meet up and stuff, so..._

Actually, Piper was the only person he'd tried...

And Jason was so relieved when she texted back.

_Okay, sure. :) same coffee place we studied at that one time?_

It was walking distance from where he was, so he agreed.

_Yeah, that sounds great. I'll see you then._

* * *

"So, how's life?" Piper asked absentmindedly, sipping her coffee.

"Fine." Jason answered quickly. "I mean, it's... I'm... Fine."

"Okay." The braid in her hair had come slightly undone, and stray wisps of hair stuck out here and there.

"What about you?" Jason asked. "Anything new?"

"Well, I don't know if you would really even care, but-" she sighed, her breath blowing one of those stray strands of hair off of her face. "My parents, um, they... They divorced a year ago and I haven't seen my mom since, and now she wants to see me and I just..."

"Do you want to see your mom?" Jason asked timidly. He didn't really want to pry, but he was curious. Piper shook her head uncertainly before continuing.

"Y-yes... No. I don't know." She answered. "I'm kind of nervous, to be honest. I kind of miss her, but then I don't... I'm just so confused."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have a pretty screwed up family as well." Jason said. He surprised himself that he even brought it up; not even his closest friends really knew. "My dad left when I was really young. I... I don't even really remember him that much."

"Gosh, I'm sorry." Piper sipped her coffee again. "What about your mom?"

"She's..." He faltered for a second. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Um, sure." She seemed to notice that Jason didn't want to talk about his mom, and he appreciated that. "How's school?"

* * *

**I ended it at a weird place but whatever. I'm getting close to being done writing this story! I planned it to be around fifteen chapters, and I've got ten written and edited, so yeah. _Any one-shots I should work on in between?_**

**Also, for the Percabeth hospital AU, I wouldn't start writing it until I'm done with this story because I can really only focus on one multichap at a time... **

**But it would be like this: Percy and Annabeth both have some sort of disease (I was going to do cancer, but I don't know if that'll be too cliche) and they meet and fall in love and stuff. I'm only holding back because A) I want to focus on this story and B) I'm stuck on how to not make it cliche. Any ideas for that help. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! I'm so glad it's the weekend. I've had a crazy past couple of days. Anyway, I'm not doing review replies today because I'm too lazy but I'll reply to both in the next update. :) **

**oh, and this chapter takes place the same time as the Jason POV chapter, just it's back in Piper's. **

* * *

"Hey, Pipes?" Mr. McLean asked, as soon as she'd walked in the door from school.

"What?" Piper replied, dropping her bag on the ground with an unceremonious thud.

"I need to talk to you for a second." He gestured to the couch. "Sit down."

"O-okay," she stammered. "Am I in trouble or something?" She took a seat on the edge of the couch, her knee bouncing up and down with nervous energy.

"No, no, it's nothing like that." Her dad smiled, though it was clear that his heart wasn't really in it. "Remember how your mom and I divorced last year?"

How could she forget? Piper's perfectly normal and happy life had changed before her very eyes. Her mom started fighting with her dad, some stuff went down, and her parents went to the courthouse because they wanted a divorce. She'd sort of seen it coming, but still... Her parents had split up and she was not one of those who liked change. For a person who hated change to have her entire life turn upside down, well, that was stressful. She'd been "sick" a lot that year, and she had started stealing things for attention. That had stopped, now that she was adjusted to her new life and all, but still... It had been hard on both her and her dad.

Piper realized that her cheeks were damp and hastily wiped away her tears.

"Yeah," she responded hoarsely.

"Well, she called and she was asking to see you."

Since her parents split up, Piper hadn't heard from her mother. No texts, phone calls, emails, weekend visits; it was like her mom had just stopped caring, like_ "I'm leaving my husband, so our kid isn't my responsibility anymore. See ya, suckers!"_

So why was her mom suddenly wanting to see her?

"Are you kidding me?" Piper shouted. "She doesn't contact me for a year, a freaking _year_, and now she's just... Ugh."

"What do you want me to tell her?"

"Tell her that I'm not interested." She stood up, turned around, and started walking back to her bedroom. Then came the indecisiveness. "Actually, I haven't decided yet."

* * *

After the talk about her mom and all of the crazy drama, Piper was in need of a stress reliever, and had begun marathoning _Doctor Who_ on Netflix. Studying could wait, and she'd just studied with Jason, so it wasn't really a big deal. Nothing noteworthy actually happened until her phone went off. She checked it, and found that she had a text from Jason Grace.

_Hey, are you doing anything?_

Honestly, she found it kind of odd that he was texting her just for the heck of it. I mean, sure, they were sort of friends and all, but not that good of friends. But still, Piper texted back.

_I'm currently marathoning Doctor Who on Netflix. Why, are you okay?_

In a few seconds, the three dots appeared on the screen, showing that Jason was typing. The weird thing was that it took a long time for him to reply. Then it was a short text, like he'd been trying to figure out what to say for a few minutes.

_I'm fine, I just was bored and nobody else could meet up and stuff, so..._

The awkwardness was real. Piper could see Jason blushing as he said the sentence, and she could hear his voice in her head again. Smiling to herself, she typed an answer.

_Okay, sure. :) same coffee place we studied at that one time?_

That particular coffee shop was walking distance from both of their houses, so she figured that it would be a good place to meet up, seeing as neither of them were quite old enough to drive yet.

_Yeah, that sounds great. I'll see you then._

Was Jason's reply. Piper smiled and got up.

"Dad," she called out. "Jason just texted me, we're going to meet up this afternoon. Bye!"

"Okay, text me when you get there." Her dad replied, because he was paranoid like that.

* * *

After meeting up with Jason, Piper's head was buzzing. He had opened up a little, saying that his dad had left them and his mom... Well, they hadn't gotten there yet, and it was obvious he didn't want to talk about it. And that both confused her and let her know that something was going on. It was odd, Jason was so cheerful and positive, she never would've guessed that he had any family issues until she talked to him.

Piper knew that one of her strengths were reading emotions, and Jason Grace wasn't hard to read. One glance, and you could see how he was feeling. Well, at least she could tell. Other people, maybe not, but that's beside the point. And Piper was perceptive; she noticed the little things, like how when Jason was excited he'd talk really, really fast and how he didn't drink coffee or how his glasses were often so crooked that she wanted to just reach up and fix them...

Gosh, and there she was, thinking about Jason Grace again. Piper never would've thought of him as noteworthy before she really knew him. At first, he was just one of the kids in the more nerdy crowd. Then she found out that he also belonged to the "jock" kind of crowd, and he was actually really sweet and cute and...

_Wait, did she just think "cute"?_

Ugh, Piper was losing it.

* * *

**I wrote the first chapter of my Percabeth hospital AU but I'm not going to post it until I've written more and this story is completely done and posted. So yeah, I don't have a lot to say today... Have a nice Saturday and weekend!**

**oh yeah! I want to do some one-shots so if you have a one-shot that you want to see written (can be for PJO, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Divergent, maybe Doctor Who), tell me and I'll do it. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Are you guys ready for my favorite chapter of this entire story? Seriously, this is quite possibly my favorite chapter because I just really like how Piper... Actually, I'll just let you guys read it for yourselves, haha. **

**Anyway, I'm not doing review replies again because it's 10 at night and I had swim practice today so I'm really tired now, so... Yeah, I promise I'll do it in the next chapter's authors note.**

* * *

Before Piper knew it, the test was approaching. Jason tutored- or as he called it, "studied with"- her every day in the week leading up to the test. She could sense his stress, though she wasn't really sure why exactly he was stressed, but still, he continued to help her. They studied late into the afternoon, quizzing each other on the names of the roman and Greek and Norse and Egyptian gods. Then they quizzed each other on roman civilizations, patron gods, and a bunch of other stuff that made Piper's head feel like it was going to spontaneously combust any second.

The two were at Piper's house late Thursday night, getting some extra studying in before the test the next day when she realized and admitted to herself that she, well, _liked_ him. I know, terribly cliche, but who cares, right?

"Alright, what was-" Jason cut himself off to yawn. "The time that-" another yawn. "The roman emperor Nero ruled?"

"Uh..." Piper wracked her brain for the answer. She remembered reading it somewhere recently... "54 to 68 A.D." His exhausted smile told her that she'd gotten the answer right.

"Good. Um, what was significant about Diocletian?"

"Diocletian..." She trailed off. "Is this the guy that you're just fascinated with?"

"He's not just '_the guy_'," Jason protested.

"I'll take that as a yes." Piper smiled. "Well, wasn't he the last emperor to like, worship the roman gods before everyone in Rome converted to Christianity?"

"Yes, that's-" he yawned for what seemed like the millionth time.

"You okay?" She asked. "You seem really tired. I mean, it is like, ten thirty at night, but..."

"I'm good." He smiled wearily, and gosh dang it, his glasses were crooked again. "Not a night owl."

"Alright." Piper had the sense that that wasn't all, but she let it go. "I think we should be done for the night, so we can get a good night's sleep before the test."

"Good idea." Jason agreed. Then, as if on cue, his phone went off. "Uh oh."

"What's wrong?"

"Thalia says that the car won't start." His eyes widened, and she could see him turning gears in his head, trying to figure out an answer to this problem. "I could walk home-"

"Jason, it's at least two miles and it's kind of dangerous." Piper frowned. "I'm not about to let you walk two miles home near a busy area at ten thirty at night."

"I'll be fine," he shrugged.

"No way." She put her hand on his shoulder, causing a sensation similar to an electric shock race up her arm. In a good way, though.

"I really don't see another option."

"I'll go ask my dad if he can drive you home or something." Piper said. "There is no way in Hades-"

"So you've started swearing to the Greek gods?" Jason smirked.

"Oh, shut up." She snapped, though she secretly found it adorable. "What I was saying, there is no way I'm letting you walk home alone. At night. You're going to get stabbed."

"Or mugged."

"Or kidnapped."

"Or electrocuted."

"Or-" and they continued like this for a few more minutes, and it was then that Piper realized how much she truly enjoyed the company of Jason Grace.

* * *

"alright, Dad says driving you home isn't a problem, so grab your stuff and we'll get in the car." Piper announced. Jason hoisted his backpack effortlessly up onto his shoulder and followed her out to her dad's car. They both climbed into the backseat and waited for Mr. McLean.

"So..." Jason said, the awkwardness prominent in his tone.

"So..." Piper responded, immediately starting to blush. Maybe he was blushing too; it was hard to tell in the dark.

"Are you nervous?" He asked. "You know, for your test?"

"Yeah, a little bit." Piper admitted. "I think I'm going to do fine, though."

"I think so too." The streetlights reflected off of the frames of his glasses, making them look pale bronze. And then Jason lowered his voice. "Are you okay? You know, with your mom and all?"

"Honestly..." She shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I mean, she hadn't contacted me in a year, and now she just wants to see me suddenly. I... I don't know. What about you? Everything okay at home?"

"Well..." For a second, she thought that Jason would actually open up to her a little more, and then he nodded. "Yeah, yeah, everything's good. My sister, Thalia, she's going to the community college. She told me that she wants to be a nurse."

"What do you want to be?" Piper asked, both to keep the conversation going and because she was curious.

"I don't know yet. I like history and roman mythology, so maybe something dealing with that..." He shrugged.

"Well, you'd better figure it out, you've only got two and a half years of high school left." She smiled.

"Oh, wow." Jason seemed like he just now realized that. "Wow."

And Piper's dad chose that moment to enter the car and start driving.

"You two weren't having a make-out session back there, were you?" He asked.

Oh, yeah. Jason was definitely blushing furiously now.

"No, o-of course not." Jason stammered. "We don't even... We aren't..."

"Really, dad?" She complained.

Jason was still blushing a little when they pulled up at his apartment building.

"Thanks for the ride, Mr. McLean." He smiled, then turned to Piper. "Good luck on the test, tomorrow, Piper." And he went inside the building.

"So..." Her dad asked, raising an eyebrow. "Were you two-"

"No!"

* * *

**Can we all just take a second and appreciate Jason's awkwardness in this chapter? It's sort of based off of my own social awkwardness. Actually, a lot of times when I write Jason, I make him similar to myself because my personality is pretty similar to his and he's just easy for me... I dunno, we all have that one character that we love because they pretty much are us, right? Maybe? No? Okay. **

**I am really really tired so I'm gonna go now. Reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, I've decided that I'm not going to do review replies unless anyone has a question. If you have something that you just want to tell me randomly, feel free to PM me. **

**Also, on another note, this story is completely done and the entire thing is ready to be posted. There are twelve chapters and a short epilogue in total, and I'm kind of sad that it's over honestly. Actually, in terms of posting it, it's not almost over, but you know what I mean. **

**Also, and update on the percabeth hospital AU will be at the end.**

* * *

The test had gone well, much to Piper's relief. Now she just had to wait until Monday to get her grade back. After she'd taken her test, she had coincidentally run into Jason in the hallway, and he seemed legitimately interested in how she did. Well, of course he was interested, he was her tutor after all.

"How'd you do?" Jason asked immediately. Piper had just exited the classroom and jumped about five feet when he startled her with the sudden question.

"Geez, Jason, you startled me." She laughed, noticing him start to blush furiously but not saying anything. "But yeah, I think I did fine."

"Do you think you passed?"

"Yeah, I do, actually." Their eyes met, her multicolored one locked onto his blue eyes, and they were silent for a few seconds. Then Jason coughed uncomfortably.

"Well, uh, that's great, Piper." He smiled. "When do you find out your grade?"

"Mr. D said that he's grading the tests over the weekend, so..." Piper trailed off.

"So, um, are you doing anything this weekend?"

She didn't want to be reminded. She was supposed to go see her mom this weekend, which she was both dreading and excited for (mostly dreading).

"Remember the whole thing with my mom?" She asked in a hushed voice, just loud enough that Jason and only Jason could hear her. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to go see her this weekend. I don't know if it... I don't know how it will go. I'm kind of scared to be honest."

"well, that's good." He said, then blushed. "It is good, isn't it?" Piper considered the question for a second. Then she smiled, met his gaze, and answered truthfully.

"Yeah, I think so." She replied. "I think it'll be okay."

* * *

Saturday morning, Piper woke up to a text from Jason and butterflies in her stomach. She was feeling extremely nervous at the thought of seeing her mom again after a year. What if she had changed since then? What if she didn't care for Piper anymore?

That is ridiculous, she reminded herself silently. Obviously she cares for you if she wants to see you.

And then Jason was texting her _"just to say hi"_ as he put it. And that caused a fluttery kind of feeling to erupt in her chest. In, you know, a good way.

Piper changed into a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt before brushing her hair and twirling it into two braids, resting on each of her shoulders. Then she was debating whether or not to wear makeup to this thing; she normally didn't, because it made her feel sort of... Unnatural... But then again, this wasn't an ordinary day. In the end, she settled on some simple lip gloss before heading out.

She was feeling too nervous for breakfast, so Piper just got into the car with her dad, which was terribly awkward. He was literally driving to his ex's house, which was... Well, kind of weird, at least in her mind. Then they pulled up to a little neighborhood and her mother was sitting on the porch, grinning and waving. Piper grabbed her bag and hopped out of the car.

"Bye, dad." She gave her father one last hug before starting to walk up to her mom's new house. As her dad started to drive off, Piper hesitated. _Was she really prepared for this?_

"Piper, sweetie!" Her mother exclaimed. The two exchanged an awkward hug.

"Uh, hi." Piper muttered awkwardly. This was already uncomfortable.

"Oh, there's no need to be shy, Pipes." The older woman laughed. "Here, come in, come in, and I'll show you your room."

She was expecting like, a guest room or something, but her room turned out to be, well, her room. There were posters on the wall for movies and bands that she liked, the bed had a bedspread in purple, her favorite color, and it was decorated in pillows with fun prints and such.

"Wow," Piper breathed, walking over and stroking the soft bedspread. "Mom, this is... This is awesome."

"I thought you would like it." A smile curled at her mom's lips. "Now why don't you unpack and then we'll start catching up downstairs."

* * *

"So, do you have a special guy in your life right now?" Piper's mom asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "_Dad_."

"You know what I mean, Piper." Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Isn't there anyone?"

"Well, there is this one boy..." Piper said uncertainly, twirling her braid around in her fingers. "He's actually my tutor, but we're... Kind of friends now. I-" she paused, considering whether or not she should actually say anything about this. She hadn't told anybody about her feelings for Jason yet, but now might be a good opportunity.

"Yes, dear, tell me about him."

"His name is Jason Grace, and I mean, he seems like just one of those nerd kids, but he's also into sports and stuff, and he's just... Gosh, he's adorable." She smiled when she remembered this morning's text. "He's really sweet too. He texted me this morning just to say hi."

"What does he look like?" Her mom inquired. "Describe him?"

"Well, he's really tall, muscular, um, he has blonde hair... And gosh, really startling blue eyes, and he has glasses. They are always crooked. _Always_. It's getting ridiculous, like, every time I see him, his glasses are freaking crooked." They both laughed, and Piper had no idea why she was so nervous about seeing her mother.

* * *

**Alright, so for the percabeth story, I have some good news and some bad news. Good new is that I'm still doing it. Bad news is that because finals and all that jazz are in about two weeks for me, I'm not going to be able to write at all until that's all over, so I won't have any new stuff until around the middle of June. I WILL STILL BE UPDATJNG THIS STORY THOUGH BECAUSE IM DONE WRITING IT. NEVER FEAR. **

**anyway, reviews make me really happy. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hellooooo. I have returned with the next update! And I really just need school to be out, okay? Anyway, now it's time to reply to the one question I got in the reviews.**

**BeatriceMelarkHolmesEaton- ****A so called woodchuck (in actuality, a groundhog) would chuck- that is, throw- as much as the woodchuck in question was physically able to chuck if woodchucks had the capability and/or motivation to chuck wood. **

* * *

Pipers weekend with her mom was cut short, much to her disappointment, when her father had an unfortunate accident. Apparently he'd fallen off of a ladder trying to screw in a lightbulb and broke his leg or something. At least, that's what Piper had been told. And now her mom was driving her to the hospital to see him.

"When you think about it," she said, trying not to let her disappointment show. "It really is a stupid thing to get hospitalized for." Now that she was reunited with her mom, it also seemed crazy that she had been so worried before and even gotten Jason a little worried too. Jason. She wondered what he would be doing right now.

"Oh, shoot." Her mom leaned forward, craning her neck to see the situation ahead of them. "There's going to be some sort of delay. Looks like a car accident." Piper, too, leaned forward and caught sight of a mangled looking car and the flashing lights of a police car or ambulance or whatever the heck was over there.

"I wonder what happened," she noted, to no one in particular.

"Why does it matter? We're going to be stuck in this traffic for a while because that road is blocked off." Her mother replied, frustrated.

After about forty five minutes, the traffic started to improve, and Piper and her mom made it to the hospital. Then there was the hours of having to sit in the waiting room, during which she sent a quick text to Jason. He didn't reply, which was kind of weird. Jason usually replied right away, even if he was studying (he'd told her that during a tutoring session sometime last week, to which she'd laughed and gently scolded him for getting distracted so easily).

And now that she was thinking about Jason, Piper realized that she was worried about him. He was hiding something, and she wanted to help him. Even though Jason had opened up a little about his dad once... But she still sensed that there was also something else going on, and this seemed to bother him most of all.

At first glance, Jason Grace seemed like he had a perfect life and all; he was intelligent, he was athletic, etc. But the closer Piper got to him, the more she realized that he didn't have it as easy as one might think.

Ugh, there she was, all of her thoughts revolving around Jason once again. This was starting to get on her nerves.

And finally, Piper was able to go see her dad, who was sitting on the bed, his leg in a cast and propped up with some pillows.

"Kind of a stupid accident, huh?" She asked, a hint of sarcasm in her tone. "What did you even do, Dad?"

"I fell off of a ladder trying to replace that burnt out lightbulb in the living room." Her dad replied. "You're right, it's kind of a stupid accident."

"When will you get to come home and stuff?"

He hesitated. "Well, I have to get a surgery to fix the joint or something, then I'll be here for a few more days..."

"All because of an idiotic mistake." Piper chuckled and gave her dad a hug.

And they spent the next hour or so laughing and cracking jokes until Piper was shooed out by a nurse.

* * *

"Well?" Piper's mom asked. "Is he alright?"

"He told me that he has to get a surgery to repair the bone or something." She answered. "And then he'll be here for a few more days to heal up and stuff, so... Yeah."

"Oh." Now it was getting awkward, and Piper had to use the restroom, so she got up and glanced around.

"I've got to pee, I'll be right back."

After she exited the bathroom, she thought that she saw Jason, but then she groaned silently and cursed herself for hallucinating. Then he waved at her half heartedly, and Piper noticed the girl next to him, and realized that she wasn't hallucinating at all.

"Jason, hi." Piper greeted awkwardly.

"Hey," Jason responded. He seemed badly shaken and his sister- Thalia, Piper remembered- was pacing nervously. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same." She said. "My dad had a really stupid accident. He should be okay, though. What about you?"

"Do you... Do you think we could go walk around somewhere?" Jason asked, his voice quivering slightly- not a lot, but definitely enough for Piper to notice. "It's... Time I told you something."

"Okay, sure." They started walking in no specific direction. "What's up?"

"My mom... I've avoided talking about her with... With anyone, actually, but..." He took a shaky breath. "She's... My mom is an a-alcoholic."

"Oh, Jason." Piper said sympathetically.

"She, um, she started drinking after my dad... You know." Another shaky breath, and this time, Piper grabbed his hand, partly to give him her support, and partly because she'd been wanting to do that for a while. Jason didn't protest. "And today, she got in a c-car accident."

"I knew that something was up." She told him gently. "I didn't want to pry. And I want to tell you that you can tell me anything, alright?"

"Anything?" Jason seemed a little unsure.

"Of course," Piper's voice came out softer than she meant it to.

"Well, in that case..." He paused for a second, then blurted, "Ilikeyou." It was so fast that she barely caught it.

"What?" She asked. "Can you repeat that? And... Slow it down a bit."

"Okay," Jason took a deep breath. "I like you, Piper."

"You know what?" She replied, beginning to smile like a maniac. "I like you too."

* * *

**Okay, so... Percabeth hospital AU. I, trying to plan it, but I have no idea where I would even really go with it or how to start or end it. Ugh. **

**On another note, would anybody be interested in some sort of The Hunger Games or Divergent story? **

**Or anything you'd want to see, let me know.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Today is my sister's birthday so instead of swim practice I'm sitting here so I thought I'd update. Let's see... Do I have any reviews to reply to? **

**Thedauntlessamity- sure, go ahead. :)**

**aaaaand that was really the only question that won't really be answered in the next two or three chapters, so yeah.**

* * *

Thalia was driving both her and Jason home when she finally snapped. Jason's eyes widened in alarm when she pulled the car over and just started screaming at nothing in particular, adding in a few choice swear words often.

"Everything-" she slammed her hand onto the top of the steering wheel, "Is just so-" Jason's sister repeated the gesture, "Freaking-" and once again, she smacked the top of the steering wheel, "Unfair."

"Thalia-" Jason tried tentatively.

"Shut up!" Thalia yelled suddenly, causing him to jump. "Just shut up!" She started to cry, which was something that very rarely happened. Jason was unsure whether or not to try and comfort her, because she seemed like she might smack him or something. Even so, he put a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Thalia, it's okay." He tried.

"Okay? Do things really look okay to you, Jason?" Thalia sobbed. "This... This whole thing. THIS WHOLE FREAKING THING-"

"Shh," Jason said softly, in attempt to calm her down.

"This whole thing is my fault!" And he watched in silence as his sister started sobbing.

"Thalia, none of this is your fault, okay?" Jason told her, fighting to keep his voice from shaking. It took a few more minutes of her sobbing before she finally calmed down.

"Let's go home." Thalia finally said, her voice rough from crying. And so they went the rest of the drive home in complete silence.

* * *

Jason was woken up abruptly by his phone ringing. He jolted awake, not even sure when or how he'd fallen asleep, and answered groggily.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Piper." The person on the other end said. He could detect a hint of worry in her tone. "I just... I wanted to check if you were okay."

"I..." Jason faltered. "I'm fine... I think."

"Seriously, if something's bothering you, anything, just tell me." She said. "You don't have to act strong all the time, you know."

"Can we meet up somewhere?" Jason asked. "I just... I want to see you."

"Um, sure." Piper sounded a little surprised. "Where? That same coffee shop?"

"Sure. Bye." He hung up, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door. "Thalia, I'm going to meet Piper. Any specific time I need to get back?"

"Be back by seven." Thalia responded hoarsely, like she'd been crying again.

"Alright, see you later." Jason walked out and began the few block's trek to that coffee shop that he'd always met Piper at. He felt a raindrop splatter onto his face, then a few more, and a few more, until the rain was falling steadily now. Jason sighed; how cliche.

When he finally made it to his destination, he was sopping wet and shivering. Piper waved him over from a table, and he joined her.

"You don't look so good," she said by way of greeting. "Here, sit down, I got you a hot chocolate. Talk to me."

"W-what about?"

"Oh, I don't know." Piper smiled and grabbed his hand, which he took, grateful for the support. "Anything you want, really. Starting with: why are you soaking wet?"

"It's raining." Jason pointed to the window, where you could still see the rain falling, and the little droplets on the glass. "I walked over here." He shivered again, and Piper wrapped her arms around him, and he hoped he wasn't blushing.

"If you catch a cold from your idiotic walk over here..." She laughed and let the threat hang in the air.

"Technically you can't catch a cold from the cold." Jason pointed out. "I'm not going to get sick just because I'm wet."

"Okay, Mr. Smarty pants." She laughed again. And somehow, right after that, they found themselves kissing.

Jason had never kissed anyone before- heck, he hadn't even _dated_ a girl before- but somehow this felt easy. It was hard to explain the feeling, but he liked it. And he really liked Piper McLean.

* * *

"Why are you all wet?" Thalia asked as soon as Jason entered the apartment. "and why are you... Smiling like a maniac?"

"I'm just in a good mood." Jason replied, taking off his soaking wet coat and hanging it up. "And I walked home in the rain. Is there a problem?"

"Go put some dry clothes on, idiot, before you get pneumonia."

"hypothermia," he corrected, still grinning like an idiot. "I thought you were the one training to be a nurse."

"I am." Thalia chuckled, shaking her head. "Now go get changed out of your wet clothes before you get hypothermia!"

Jason complied, and collapsed onto the couch next to her a few minutes later.

"Thalia," he asked softly, not sure if he should bring this up or not. "What happens if mom... What happens if she dies?" His sister's expression darkened, but she answered the question.

"I'm twenty two, so you'd still live with me." She said. "Things would pretty much be the same, I guess..."

"Oh." It was completely silent while Jason pondered that for a second. Thalia had pretty much raised him when their mother had been drunk- which was often- so not much would change, except he wouldn't have to leave the house while his sister dealt with things. "I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Why don't you ever like, tell me what's going on with mom and all?"

"I just..." Thalia trailed off and sighed. "Does it matter, Jason?"

"Yes, it does." He protested. "You shouldn't keep things from people who care about you and want to help out."

With a start, he realized that the advice he'd just given could also be applied to himself.

* * *

**Okay, so I had an idea for any of those possibly interested in a Divergent story? **

**How about one of those high school AUs? I know that they're terribly cliche but I think I could make it work and I try really hard to make my stuff orininal and all, so... I don't know. What do you think?**

**also, we have two chapters before this story officially ends and then I have like a 300 word epilogue, so... **

**Along with a Percabeth hospital (it just autocorrected to houseplant hahaha) AU and a Divergent story, what else would you like to see from me?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Well, I am pretty much done with school now but I'm still super busy with other stuff so I don't know how many updates you'll get after this chapter, the next, and the epilogue, but I'll make sure to get at least _something_ up. I don't think I have any reviews that needed replying, so..**.

* * *

Jason wasn't at school on Monday. And apparently, he wasn't coming on Tuesday either. Piper had been texting him, asking for updates on his whole situation. Not that he spilled much, but he said that he and Thalia were both sitting in the hospital, waiting for some sort of news on their mom. _Gosh, Jason._.. Piper had recently found out about his whole home situation; his mom was an alcoholic and his dad had left them when he was young and his sister, being the amazing older sibling she was, took care of him the best she could. That was why he'd texted her that one time, the first time they had ever met up outside of their tutoring sessions. Any time their mother had some sort of alcoholic fit, Thalia would send Jason out of the house until it was over.

And she'd gotten the results from the test back- an A minus- which she was happy about and her dad was proud of, because it brought her history grade up and now her dad had just said that she didn't need to be tutored anymore. But studying with Jason had been a bright spot in her otherwise boring life, and gosh, that sounded pathetic, but she didn't want to stop meeting up and studying with him.

Things were kind of complicated now. They had established that they both liked each other, they'd held hands, they'd even kissed, but Piper wasn't sure if she could call him her boyfriend. She'd never really dated anyone before, and she figured Jason probably had a similar history in dating, given how unromantic and awkward he could be at times, so she didn't know about this sort of thing. And neither did he.

She finally saw him again on Wednesday, when she went back to the hospital after her dad's surgery (he would be coming home in a day or two, depending on how the whole healing process was going) and they ran into each other. She spotted him and Thalia in the waiting room and rushed over.

"Hey," Jason greeted half heartedly. His eyes were bloodshot and there were dark bags under his eyes. Poor thing looked like he hadn't slept properly in days, which he probably hadn't.

"Hey, Jason." Piper sat down next to him and wordlessly, they laced their fingers together. "How are you doing?" He shrugged and shook his head.

"I... I don't know..." Jason stammered. "I just..." He shrugged helplessly once again, and Piper felt a rush of sympathy for him. This was probably the first time that he'd admitted to not being okay to her.

"Do you want to walk around or something?" She asked gently. "We can talk... You can tell me what's going on. What's bothering you and all."

"Okay." They both stood up and began walking around aimlessly while Jason, for the first time, told Piper everything. Every little detail, every little thing that may have worried him, and she listened. She comforted him. She hugged him when it got to be too much and she let him spill about any random things.

"Jason," she finally said. "Thank you for telling me. I really do care about you and I really do want to help, and it's a lot easier when you tell me things. How are you?"

"I... I'm okay." Jason answered softly, and kind of uncertainly.

"Hey, it's okay to not be okay, okay?"

"Okay." A faint smile graced his features. "how many okays was that?"

"Five, I think." Piper laughed, and she stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Then they stood and Jason wrapped his arms around her; they were just the perfect heights that when Jason stood behind her, he could wrap his arms around her and his chin rested comfortably on her head. It sounded uncomfortable, but really, it wasn't. It felt absolutely perfect.

"I have a question." She said, after a few minutes of silence. "Are you and I... You know..."

"do you want to be?" Jason asked softly.

"Do you?" She asked, her voice the same volume as his.

"Yeah," he answered finally, his voice almost a whisper. "Yeah, I do."

"Good." Piper smiled. "I do too." And then they were kissing for the second time ever. It wasn't a heavy kind of kiss, and it wasn't exactly just a peck on the lips. Somehow, it felt perfect, despite the fact that neither of them had ever really kissed anyone before a few days ago when they had their first kiss at that coffee shop.

"There you two love birds are," Thalia said, amused, as they pulled away. Jason started blushing furiously. "Congratulations on your relationship."

"Thalia, I... We, um..." Jason was blushing, stuttering, etc., and Piper chuckled nervously. Her boyfriend seemed to be a nervous wreck. _Gosh, boyfriend_. The word seemed different when she said it in her head, but she liked that she got to call Jason Grace her boyfriend. Thalia laughed, interrupting her brother's embarrassment.

"Jase, I'm your sister." She said, smirking. "My job is to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend." He cleared his throat and chuckled.

"Piper McLean," he said, still blushing. "I am glad that I can finally call you my girlfriend."

Wait, finally?

"I've uh, I've had a crush on you ever since..."

"Hmm?" Thalia and Piper both asked, causing him to blush even more.

"Ever since I became your tutor."

"Aww, that's sweet," Thalia teased. "But let's go home. You look like you're about to fall asleep right here." Jason nodded, and as if on cue, yawned.

"Go get some sleep." Piper kissed his cheek. "I'll see you later."

* * *

**So today I wrote an alternate ending to Allegiant if any Divergent fans are interested. I'll probably put it up sometime either today, maybe tomorrow. Also, if you guys were wanting some other story, tell me and I'll try to make that happen. :) **

**reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	12. Chapter 12

**okay! So this is the last official chapter of this story (I still have an epilogue). And I saw yesterday that someone was asking to adopt the story to keep it going (I forgot what the username was and I didn't want to get it wrong, sorry). If anyone wants to do that, go ahead, but just let me know when you've posted it and give credit. :) **

**so yeah, I'll let you read now.**

* * *

Things were slightly different. For the first time, Piper was over at Jason's apartment, and she was actually hanging out with Thalia because he- being overly tired from the past however many days at the hospital- had gone to bed immediately. It was okay, though. You would expect hanging out with your boyfriend's older sister to be kind of awkward, but it was actually fun. The conversation had gone straight from small talk to embarrassing stories of Jason as a kid.

"You know that scar on his lip?" Thalia asked. Piper nodded. "He got that because he tried to eat a stapler when he was two." Both girls erupted into laughter.

"That's adorable," Piper laughed.

"He also used to sleepwalk a lot. And once, when he was three he-"

"Okay," Jason interrupted from behind them. "What's going on?" He walked over and joined them on the couch.

"Thalia was just telling me about your stapler fetish." Piper chuckled, causing Jason to blush. "Absolutely adorable, by the way, that you would think to eat that."

"I was two!" He grinned. "What else did Thalia tell you?"

"Well, I was about to tell her about the-" Thalia started, but Jason interrupted.

"Yeah, please don't."

"I think it's cute," Piper said, and she noticed that his glasses were crooked. So she did what she had been wanting to do ever since she had first noticed his glasses were always crooked; she reached up and straightened them.

"Just so you know," she told him. "Your crooked glasses have been bothering me since we met, and I've been wanting to do that since."

Both Jason and Thalia laughed at that.

* * *

The next day, Piper went over to their house again, but this time Jason wasn't around. Thalia seemed to be acting strange too, so Piper pulled her aside.

"What's wrong, are you two okay?" She asked. Thalia shrugged.

"Honestly, I'm not really sure." The older girl admitted. "We found out... Well, we found out today that they're going to pull the plug."

"Pull the plug?" Piper asked, not getting what Thalia meant.

"Our mom was in the car crash, you know, and her heart stopped and she stopped breathing and all. She couldn't live without the help of machines and the doctors have officially declared her brain dead, so..." She shrugged again and Piper noticed how she had the same very startling blue eyes as Jason. Except hers were more scary, like if looks could kill, you'd be dead from one of Thalia's glares, and Jason's eyes never really gave off a "scary" vibe. They just lit up excitedly when he was talking about something he was passionate about, which she found adorable... And none of that is important.

"Jason's taking it harder than I am, honestly." Thalia continued. "I never got along with our mom and she never really liked me, but when she was sober, she liked Jason and all."

"I'm so sorry." Piper's voice was soft. "Can I do anything for you guys?"

"Piper McLean," Thalia sighed. "You've done enough, okay?"

"I've done nothing." She protested. "Do you think I could go talk to Jason?"

"I don't know, you can try. He wouldn't talk to me." Thalia said. "His bedroom is the second door on the left."

"Okay," Piper smiled and made her way over to said door, then knocked timidly. "Jason?" No answer. So she did what she'd always done when Annabeth or her dad or really any of her friends were spacing out and knocked again, five times, to a certain rhythm.

"Jason?" She called out. "_Do you wanna build a snowman?_" Piper sang that last line very over dramatically, and he finally opened the door, chuckling.

"Hey, Pipes." Jason greeted half heartedly. "What's up?"

"We need to talk." She announced, waltzing right in and taking a seat next to him on his bed. "First of all, Thalia told me what happened with..."

"With our mom?" He finished hoarsely.

"Yeah. Anyway, how are you doing?" Piper asked, genuinely concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I..."

"Remember, it's okay to not be okay, okay?"

"Okay." Jason sighed. "I'm... I'm not okay. I just... I don't know, this is just a lot to take." He drew in a shaky breath, and Piper got the feeling that he might start crying.

She was good at reading emotions, but what she wasn't so good at was comforting people. Okay, sure, she had done alright getting Jason to open up to her, but beyond that... Well, if somebody started crying, she really had no idea what the heck she should do. Should she keep her distance? Pat them on the back, murmuring, "there there"? Offer them her condolences and offer to bake a cake? Hug them? Even with her doubts, she pulled her boyfriend (her heart still sped up to about the speed of sound every time she thought _Jason_ and _Boyfriend_ in the same sentence) into a hug.

"Hey, it's okay to cry." Piper said.

"Isn't crying a sign of weakness?" He laughed dryly.

"No, Jason." She whispered. "Crying isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign that a person has been strong for too long. And God knows that you've been through a lot. It's okay."

And finally, he opened up to her completely, let himself cry, and when all of that was over...

"I love you." Piper said. She hadn't really meant to say it, but somehow she knew it was absolutely true.

The End

* * *

**If you guys didn't already see, I posted a Divergent story yesterday titled "We'll Be Alright", so yeah. I'll also try to do a Hunger Games story and maybe a PJO/HOO kind of one-shot later... **

**What at are you guys interested in reading? Like, if I did a Hunger Games story, what would you want it to be about? If I did a one-shot, what should it be about?**


	13. Epilogue

**So here's an epilogue because I wanted to end with them married and stuff, so here's just around four hundred words of Jason and Piper getting married. Literally nothing else happens and it's cheesy, but you know, I'm going to post it anyway. **

**Also, I was going to post this over the weekend, but I was busy with it being Memorial Day weekend and all. So yeah, enjoy. **

* * *

_Six years later_

"Oh my freaking goodness, Piper." Annabeth said, smiling. "You're actually getting married. And you look flawless. Absolutely flawless."

"Thank you," Piper smiled back and twirled around. The white fabric of her wedding dress fanned out at the bottom as she twirled, and both Piper and Annabeth giggled.

"Remember when you told me that you'd never have a crush on your tutor?" Annabeth smiled slyly and slid a bobby pin into Piper's hair, which was already starting to fall out of its fancy up-do that her mother had done. Piper blushed.

"Actually, yes, I do remember." She laughed. "I never dreamt that the love of my life would be my tutor."

"That would be weird," Annabeth said in a high pitched voice, mimicking her friend all those years ago. "On another note, what are you and him going to do once you're married?"

"Well, we're going on a honeymoon in Greece... Athens, actually, since my soon to be husband is such a history nerd." Piper answered. "And then... Well, he told me that he's joining the Air Force. Apparently, a few years ago, he developed a wild fascination with flight as well as Roman emperors."

She remembered when Jason had run up to her excitedly, when they were still in high school, saying that he had finally figured it out what he wanted to do while he was studying the science of flight in his physics class. Then she'd teased him about his mad fascination with flight as well as the Roman emperors (to this day, he was still obsessed with Diocletian).

* * *

"You may now kiss the bride."

Jason and Piper shared a kiss, and his heart fluttered in his chest. Here he was, married to the girl that he loved, and Jason had never been this happy.

"I love you, Pipes." He said, causing his sister, Annabeth (his former "study buddy"), and all of the other bridesmaids as well as Piper's mom to all simultaneously go, "awwww!"

"I love you too," she responded, standing on her tiptoes and wrapping her arms around him.

Even though he'd most likely already thought it, Jason was the happiest he'd ever been in his life.

* * *

**Also, for those of you wanting to continue this story, you can as long as you give some credit to me and let me know when you post it so I can read it. :) also, this will be the last update for this story. I may do a one-shot set in this universe, but most likely not. **

**Im probably going to do a Percabeth AU at some point in the near future, so... Yeah. Look out for that.**


	14. One-shots?

**Okay, so this story is completely finished. **

**But if I did one-shots in this same universe and all, after the main plot but before the epilogue, would anyone be interested? **

**Because I was thinking it over and I really really enjoyed writing this and I want to continue. **

**What do you guys think? Do you want one-shots or should I just leave it?**

**please review and tell me. **

**Thanks!**


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